Anebi
Business activities have ground to a halt in Taraba State and parts of the North-East following a week long power outage that has plunged the region into total darkness.
The blackout, which also affects Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, has disrupted daily life and paralyzed small businesses, particularly those that rely heavily on electricity.
According to the Yola Electricity Distribution Company, YEDC, the outage is due to ongoing repair works on a critical section of the power infrastructure.
The ongoing outage, as observed by our reporter, marks a repeat of last year’s incident when vandals attacked transmission lines, leaving the same states in darkness for several weeks.
A visit to affected areas by DAILY POST revealed that many small business owners are struggling to cope with the situation.
In Jalingo, the capital of Taraba State, tailors, hairdressers, welders and other artisans are among the worst hit.
One of the affected business owners, Mr. Ademola, lamented the impact on his livelihood.
“As I’m talking to you now, I have not been able to attend to any of my customers for the past one week due to the failure of YEDC to restore power,” he said.
Similarly, Mrs Talatu, a hairdresser in Jalingo, expressed frustration over losing customers to competitors with standby generators.
“All hands are not equal. For people like me who cannot afford a generator, our business has been crippled. We are praying for YEDC to restore power so we can return to work and provide for our families,” she said.
Residents criticized YEDC for not fulfilling its earlier promise to restore electricity within three days, saying the prolonged blackout has caused hardship for both business owners and households.
As of the time of filing this report, there is no confirmed date for the restoration of power across the affected states.
Prolonged power outage cripples businesses in Taraba, other North-East states
